About Activ8

Activ8 began in 2009 as a social marketing campaign aimed at raising awareness among primary school children of the importance of taking part in at least 60 minutes of physical activity every day and of eating a healthy and balanced diet by promoting the eight Activ8 steps:

Sport Northern Ireland now have a range of Activ8 programmes, below, to help promote the Chief Medical Officers’ Recommendations for being active through sport and physical activity:

The Activ8 Adventure visited schools and events to provide young people with the opportunity to experience a mixture of Olympic and Paralympic sports.

Track and field sports such as javelin and hurdles, along with Paralympic sports such as boccia, and sports in the 2012 spotlight such as fencing, were brought to life along with the high wire obstacle course. Agility, balance and co-ordination were put to the test by the wooden bridge, cargo rope, balance beam and rope-bridge.

Activ8 Children's Club Coach

The project aims to further the development of sport-specific club-based volunteer coaches of children through a holistic and structured coach development programme.

The programme includes an initial learning and development opportunity for coaches which focuses on developing the fundamentals of movement, coaching craft and the application of this within sport-specific coaching settings.

On-going mentoring support is key to the programme and each club coach is linked to a mentor experienced in children’s coaching within their sport, this ensures a sustained environment of support for coaches in the integration and development of the concepts within their clubs and a source of continued informal learning.

To achieve this Sport Northern Ireland’s partnership with the three governing bodies of sports involved in the programme, Canoe Association of Northern Ireland, Ulster Council Gaelic Athletic Association and Netball NI, has been essential.

The project offers opportunity for additional needs based learning and development opportunities and the provision of suitable resources Sport Northern Ireland have commissioned an independent evaluation of the three Activ8 pilot projects implemented across Northern Ireland to identify relevant learning points that will inform the subsequent development of the Activ8 projects.

Activ8 Community Coaches

Activ8 Eatwell Games Cards were developed by Sport Northern Ireland and Food Standards Agency NI for community coaches, teachers and youth leaders to deliver the Activ8 Eatwell messages and promote healthy eating and physical activity.

Each Activ8 Game Card has an activity/game linked to key messages of the Activ8 Eatwell programme.

The 'tool kit' consists of six Activ8 Games Cards available to download from the Activ8 Resources. Use as a warm up activity to get everyone moving and having fun at any time or as part of an Activ8 Eatwell Programme in your school!

These Game Card further lay the foundations for lifelong participation in sport and physical activity and ensure that young children across Northern Ireland are educated about the importance of an active lifestyle and a balanced diet.